Save the Bees – celebrating our Bee Symposium and Pollinator Pathways
For over a decade, we’ve been fundraising and working with charity partners to spearhead initiatives helping to save our precious pollinators from decline. We began this journey back in 2011 with the launch of our #StandByBees campaign, dedicated to protesting the use of harmful neonicotinoids and lobbying for parliament action to ban these toxic chemical pesticides for pollinators.
Did you know?
Just one teaspoon of neonicotinoid pesticides is enough to kill 1.25 billion bees
We’re still working hard to protect our pollinators and have since launched various projects and collaborations to help raise money and bring awareness to pollinator-positive change. As part of our continued Stand by Bees mission, earlier this month we hosted our second Bee Symposium in celebration of the launch of our Pollinator Pathways map.
Bee Symposium
On Thursday 6 June, we hosted our second Bee Symposium at Camley Street Natural Park, bringing together environmental experts and industry leaders from across the UK to discuss the vital role of pollinators in our ecosystems, while celebrating the voices and organisations who have been a part of the Stand by Bees journey.
The panel was led by our CEO and founder of the #StandByBees campaign, Anabel Kindersley and hosted by former Today programme and Evening Standard Editor Sarah Sands. Also joining Anabel on the panel were George Lamb, former TV presenter and co-founder of regenerative farming business Wildfarmed and Christabel Reed, founder of nature skills platform and charity Earthed.
We welcomed back a number of supporters of the #StandByBees campaign, including Millie Kendall, CEO of the British Beauty Council, David Mooney, CEO of the London Wildlife Trust, John Sauven, former executive director of Greenpeace, Jayn Sterland, managing director of Weleda UK, Tayshan Hayden-Smith and Danny Clarke, directors of Grow to Know, and Steward Dodd, CEO of River Cottage.
The #StandByBees campaign has focused on bringing together all areas of society to help stop the catastrophic collapse of our pollinator populations, including working with businesses and business leaders. So far, the campaign pledge has been signed by more than 110 businesses across the UK.
“Collaboration is the only way to make systemic change happen. No one single business can do this on their own; we all have to work together, every single one of us.”
Speaking about the importance of empowering communities to improve and regenerate their own natural surroundings, Christabel Reed reflected on the importance of equipping citizens with the skills and funding to take action themselves
“I believe deeply that enough people care [about environmental issues] for us to make significant change. What’s preventing the movements […] isn’t compassion or empathy, it’s actually obstacles like skills, awareness and funds. 83% of households in the UK have a garden, imagine if we all understood how to turn our gardens into pollinator paradises?”
George Lamb argued for the importance of supporting farmers in making the transition to pollinator-friendly regenerative farming.
“We’ve got into the situation where the farmer’s been talking all the risk burden in the food system for the last 50 – 80 years. We’re asking them to go the extra yard to try and be stewards of the land and we’re not incentivising them at all. [At Wildfarmed] we’re trying to build a better food system.”
Following the success of the symposium and the important conversations it sparked, we continue to work hard to spread awareness and make positive changes to protect our pollinators. To find out more about #StandByBees and to see how you could help, click below.
Pollinator Pathways
The Bee Symposium also marked the launch of our Pollinator Pathways map, designed to encourage businesses and individuals across the country to commit to planting pollinator-friendly flowers in their green spaces. We hope that this nationwide planting project will provide essential food and shelter for our pollinator populations, helping to ensure their survival for generations to come.
Did you know?
97% of British wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s – that’s a staggering total of 7.5 million acres of pollinator habitat
How can you help?
Whether you're an individual, a community group, or a business, every plot counts. Simply add the location of your existing or pledged pollinator-friendly plot to our interactive Pollinator Pathways map to help us build a buzzing network of habitats that stretch across the UK.
Bee Lovely
By choosing certified organic products, you are supporting the shift away from chemical pesticides and towards more planet-conscious alternatives. Our certified organic Bee Lovely collection is a great place to start. Made using natural and pollinator-friendly ingredients, this collection is kind to skin, kind to planet and kind to bees, with 3% of sales donated to bee-friendly charities.
